Smoking kills 1 million Chinese every year! Does smoking cessation really reduce the risk of lung cancer?

Uncle Wang, a 37-year-old smoker. In his eyes, cigarettes are a good thing, and the sentence “a cigarette after a meal is like a fairy” is not wrong at all.

He often used himself as an example, “I’m 62 years old and don’t have cancer at all. Don’t ask me to quit smoking. It’s all a lie.” In addition, the pictures of “black lungs” of long-term smokers circulating on the Internet are not believed by Uncle Wang. He thinks that after a few years, he will get tired of smoking, and the lungs will turn white after quitting smoking.

“pulling” 1 million Chinese people every year

people Everyone knows that smoking is harmful to health, but many people still cannot control their cravings. According to data released by the World Health Organization, the number of people dying from tobacco-related diseases in my country is as high as 1 million every year. If smoking continues to worsen, by 2050, tobacco-related diseases are expected to kill 100 million, 50% of whom will Died at 35-60 years old.

Smoking affects lung function, destroys the complete structure of the lung, weakens the function of the respiratory system, and causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and other diseases. In addition, studies have found that cigarettes contain more than 7,000 chemical components, including many substances that are harmful to the human body. In addition to lung diseases, it may also increase the risk of oral cancer, throat cancer and other diseases.

5 years of quitting smoking, lung cancer risk decreased

smoking is lung cancer Zhang Jie, director of the Testing Center of Peking University Third Hospital, pointed out that the more smoking, the higher the risk of cancer. People who smoked 20 cigarettes a day for more than 20 years had a 20-fold increased risk of dying from lung cancer.

Smoking affects not only oneself but also others. Women who live with smokers have a six-fold higher risk of developing lung cancer. Compared with men, women who smoke have a greater risk of developing lung cancer, 1.9 times that of men.

If you quit smoking early, you can effectively reduce the risk of lung cancer. A study in the United States found that smoking cessation for 5 years significantly reduced the risk of lung cancer in smokers.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine followed 8,907 participants for decades, and 284 were eventually diagnosed with lung cancer. Of the 284 lung cancer patients, 93% were heavy smokers, smoked at least 1 pack a day, and smoked for more than 21 years. But if heavy smokers quit smoking for 5 years, their risk of developing lung cancer is 39% lower compared with those who still smoke.

The risk decreases as you quit smoking.

In other words, it is never too late to start smoking cessation,now is the best time to quit smoking strong>.

Can black lungs turn white after quitting smoking?

With the increase of smoking and the prolongation of smoking age, the lungs will become darker and darker. Because cigarette smoke contains more than a billion dust and particles, when the dust and particles are inhaled in the lungs, the mucus secreted by the alveoli will stick them and then excrete them through the cilia in the lungs. If you smoke a lot for a long time, the cilia in the lungs will continue to work, and the damage will become more and more serious. It keeps building up in the lungs, eventually turning them black.

So, can the lungs come back white after quitting smoking?

After quitting smoking, the self-cleaning function of the lungs will improve and the mucus secreted by the trachea will decrease , breathing becomes easier, and lung cilia are better able to remove dust and particles. At the same time, the immune system in the alveoli can kill more pathogens and reduce disease.

Of course,lungs will also slowly whiten, but it’s hard to get back to their original shape< span>. Especially for smokers who are older and have been smoking for a long time, too many harmful substances have been deposited in the lungs, which is difficult to eliminate. In addition, part of lung damage caused by long-term smoking is difficult to reverse, such as permanent enlargement of alveoli and alveolar ducts, fibrosis of bronchial walls Thickness, hyperplasia of glands, etc.

Want to quit smoking? How to choose between quitting smoking gradually and quitting suddenly?

Different people have different ways to quit smoking. Some people reduce the amount of smoking little by little, gradually, until they stop smoking at all; So, which way to quit smoking has a higher success rate?

A study by scientists from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham in the UK includedA total of 697 ex-smokers with clear addiction were divided into two groups, one was an immediate withdrawal group, and the other was a gradual reduction group.

At the same time, in order to reduce the withdrawal reaction and improve the success rate of smoking cessation, both groups of quitters received behavioral support therapy andshort-acting nicotine replacement therapy.

Scientists found that after 4 weeks of quitting smoking, 49% of those who quit smoking immediately 39.2% of the quitters in the tapering group did not relapse; at 8 weeks of quitting, 36.6% of the quitters in the immediate quit group did not relapse, and 29.2% of the quitters in the tapered group did not relapse. At 6 months of quitting,22% of the quitters in the immediate withdrawal group did not relapse, and 15.1% of the quitters in the tapering group did not relapse.

That is,quit smoking is more likely to quit smoking immediately than tapering off< /strong>. If you want to quit smoking successfully, you must make up your mind to stop smoking at all.

Most people will experience withdrawal symptoms when they quit smoking. The symptoms are most intense within 14 days before quitting smoking, and the symptoms can last for about a month, which can easily lead to relapse. Xiao Dan, director of the Tobacco Disease and Smoking Cessation Center of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said that, generally speaking, it takes 5 years of no smoking to be considered successful.

Smoking – all harm and no gain! Smoking friends, take courage and quit smoking at one time! You will reap the benefits!

# Yao Zero Zero Plan# #Health2022#

References:

[1]More than 1 million a year People, die in smoke! Still not quit? , China News Network, 2021-05-26

[2] How long does it take for your lungs to turn black? . Zhongshan Sixth Hospital. 2019-05-26

[3] Gradual smoking cessation VS immediate smoking cessation, which has a higher success rate? .Life Times. 2022-02-14

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